South Korea Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin Jailed 2.5 Years for Bribery

South Korea Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin Jailed 2.5 Years for Bribery

Lotte Group chairman Shin Dong-bin has been jailed 2.5 years and fined 7 billion won ($6.56 million; USDKRW: 1065.82) by the Seoul Central District Court for giving 7 billion won bribe to a confidante of former South Korea President. Shin Dong-bin was found guilty of giving the bribe to Choi Soon-sil, a confidante of former South Korea President Park Geun-hye (2013 – 2017).

Former president’s confidante, Choi Soon-sil have also received a 20-year sentence while another former president senior presidential secretary, An Chong-bum, received a six-year jail sentence. All 3 including Shin Dong-bin are appealing against the sentence.

Billionaire Shin Dong-bin, Japanese-born South Korean with more than $1.3 billion personal fortune, is the second son founder and first CEO of Lotte Group, Shin Kyuk-ho. In December 2017, the founder of Lotte Group, Shin Kyuk-ho, was sentenced to four years in prison for embezzlement.

In 2015, Shin Dong-bin elder brother led a boardroom coup and failed. In recent times, Lotte had been wrapped with corruption investigations and scrutiny. In China, most of Lotte’s 112 marts and supermarkets in China were shut down by authorities because of alleged fire-safety violations. In 2016, Lotte Group had confirmed the death of Vice Chairman Lee In-won, suspected suicide, before he was to be called by prosecutors conducting a criminal probe. In 2016, Lotte Group had also abandoned its planned IPO.

Lotte Group is a Korean-Japanese conglomerate, was founded in Tokyo in 1948 by Shin Kyuk-ho. It started with producing and selling chewing gum and has grown into a global conglomerate with businesses around the world. Today, it has headquarters in South Korea and Japan.